This two days event presents keynote speeches, panels and live cinema connected with the understanding of cyborg identities, while exposing power structures embedded in technology and our everyday life. The event is built around the international book launch of The Cyborg: A Treatise on the Artificial Man, written by political Sci-Fi theorist Antonio Caronia (Genoa, 1944 – Milan, 2013), published by Meson Press / Hybrid Publishing Lab, Leuphana University of Lüneburg. Starting from the book of Caronia and going beyond it, the analysis will culminate discussing the most recent frontiers of biotechnology and transhumanism.

The Cyborg was written by Antonio Caronia between 1985 and 2008 and published in several Italian editions during this timeframe (with the title: Il Cyborg. Saggio sull'uomo artificiale, last Italian edition is by ShaKe Edizioni, Milan).

Antonio Caronia was a political activist during the 1977 revolution in Italy, turning after that to the study of mass culture and communication theory, especially about the relationship between science, technology, identity, and cultural imagination. After his recent death he left behind a massive body of books and essays, which have not been presented to an international public yet, while being instead very popular in Italy. The Cyborg is certainly crucial to the understanding of the development of digital culture from the 1980s until today, not only in Italy, but internationally. The main concept of the book, which is also at the core of this event, is a reflection on the development of an emerging imaginary, epitomising the passage from modernity to post-Fordist society. Adopting Science Fiction and the critical reflection on technology and the body, as a methodology of cultural criticism, the challenge is to generate new activist, artist and hacker interventions. What does Cyborg mean today? Which new configurations are possible to provoke critical awareness and agency through sexuality, body and technology? Do we still need to speak about "a body" or should we go beyond physical boundaries to reflect critically on power structures in a time of economic crisis and increasing technological surveillance?

Event built around the international book launch of The Cyborg: A Treatise on the Artificial Man, written by political Sci-Fi theorist Antonio Caronia (Genoa, 1944 – Milan, 2013), Meson Press / Hybrid Publishing Lab, Leuphana University of Lüneburg.

Event funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin. In cooperation with Kunstraum Kreuzberg /Bethanien. Supported by the Italian Culture Institute of Berlin. In collaboration with the Hybrid Publishing Lab, CDC/Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Meson Press, Vierte Welt Kollaborationen, and Aksioma - Institute of Contemporary Art Ljubljana.

Curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Daniela Silvestrin.

With the participation of the Free Chelsea Manning Initiative Berlin, marking the fifth anniversary of Chelsea Manning's confinement (May 27).